Night of Limp Knives
The Night of Limp Knives was the Old Guard's last desperate attempt to damage Tempire, as well as the end of their influence within the server. As a result of their complicity in the night's events, Joe, Cypress, and Nico were all banned from Temporary Empire. The Buildup During the TORCH, the Old Guard had sought to install a puppet (Daniel) as owner of Tempire, as part of their latest attempt to sabotage the server and its community. As with every previous attempt, their attempts were stymied, but the difference was that this time they were thwarted almost effortlessly. Gone were the days when they were a powerful faction within the community; indeed, most server members barely knew who most of the Old Guard was. At the same time, the Weeb Nationers were becoming increasingly cognizant of their own server's frailty. Weeb Nation had been hemorrhaging members all summer, as the toxicity of its core group drove people who were once thought to be die-hard loyalists to jump ship and move to Tempire. Tempire's kinder community, frequent gaming opportunities, competent leadership, and new Minecraft server were much more appealing than the derelict, incestuous coterie that Weeb Nation had become. Rather than acknowledge their shortcomings and those of their server, the Old Guard projected their anxieties onto Tempire, looking for the slightest excuse to pick a fight. Stage One Their chance came when Jaleel invited Daniel to join Tempire's new Minecraft server. Daniel was able to enter while the whitelist was disabled, but once Max turned it back on, Daniel was unable to rejoin the server. Decrying this "injustice", Daniel brought his grievances to Weeb Nation (which he had fled back to after losing the election a few weeks before). Within the confines of their echo chamber, Daniel, Cypress, Joe, Jaleel, and Nico lambasted Max for his "bullying", while at the same time insulting him as a "cunt" (the irony of this was seemingly lost on them). When their childish whining failed to produce the desired outcome and Max refused to whitelist Daniel, they then flooded Tempire with angry accusations that Max was bullying Daniel. This was to no avail, as Andrew arrived to calmly and logically rebut their attacks. Stage Two Furious and humiliated that their self-entitled tantrum had not produced the desired effect, Cypress, Jaleel, Joe, and Nico retreated to Weeb Nation so that they could stew in their anger without having to deal with pesky reality. Along with Daniel, they began to seriously discuss the idea of kicking Max as retribution for his perceived slights against them. Jaleel, perhaps sensing that this course of action would have serious consequences, faintly attempted to discourage them, only for Cypress and Daniel to turn on him and lambast him as a bad friend. With the only voice of opposition thus subdued, Cypress then gave Daniel admin powers in Weeb Nation. Daniel immediately banned Max from the server, allowing Cypress to silence Max while having someone else take the fall for it. Cypress and Joe then returned to Tempire and claimed that they had merely allowed Daniel to do "what he felt was right". Then, with a parting passive-aggressive jab at Andrew, they withdrew to Tempire, leaving Jaleel to cobble together some kind of excuse for their childish behavior. Stage Three